The FBI, Justice Department and other federal and state agencies have launched an investigation to identify those responsible for a massive number of threatening, racist text messages sent to Black men, women and children following Donald Trump's presidential win.
"These messages are unacceptable," said a statement from Federal Communications Chair Chair Jessica Rosenworcel. The agency takes "this type of targeting very seriously," she warned.
"The FBI is aware of the offensive and racist text messages sent to individuals around the country and is in contact with the Justice Department and other federal authorities on the matter," the bureau said in a statement.
The jolting messages, attacked by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a "public spectacle of hate and racism," warned: "You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation," where they would be forced to work as slaves.
Some of the messages were reportedly signed: "Sincerely, a Trump supporter." The Trump campaign has denied any involvement in the texts.
Those who received the texts, including Black children in middle school, were told to be ready with their belongings the following day for collection by bus to be delivered to a plantation, where they would pick cotton. They were also told that they would be strip searched.
The anonymous sender or senders' identity in each text was obscured by masking the true source, authorities reported.
Untold thousands of messages were reported in states including New York, Alabama, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Tennessee, which have also launched their own probes.
"These messages are horrific, unacceptable, and will not be tolerated," Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said in a statement. "It is frightening," he added. "I can only imagine. We know at least in one case a 13-year-old girl received this," Brown told CBS News.
The messages are an "intimidating, threatening use of technology" that likely violated multiple laws, Brown said. He vowed that investigators will use "all the tools and resources available to us to hold accountable whoever is behind these text messages."
My office has received multiple complaints of racist text messages sent to Black Marylanders, including school-aged children. These messages appear to be part of a nationwide campaign and are horrific and unacceptable.
— Anthony G. Brown (@OAGMaryland) November 8, 2024
If you received one of these texts, please report it to… pic.twitter.com/C4FxccydPH
NAACP CEO Derrick Johnson linked the messages to Trump's influence.
"The unfortunate reality of electing a president who, historically, has embraced and at times encouraged hate, is unfolding before our eyes," Johnson said.
"These messages represent an alarming increase in vile and abhorrent rhetoric from racist groups across the country, who now feel emboldened to spread hate and stoke the flames of fear that many of us are feeling after Tuesday's election results," he added.
Phone service provider TextNow told the Associated Press that "one or more of our accounts" were shut down once they were identified as being part of the attack.
One North Carolina mom told the AP that she was deeply disturbed after her daughter, a high school senior, receiving one of the texts.
"It's like a slap in the face and it shows me that it is still an issue that has not changed at all," she said. "Racism is still a very prominent thing in our country right now."
